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Instructors: Dr. Julian Müller; Prof. Dr. Thomas Straubhaar
Event type:
Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
English
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 18
Comments/contents:
Globalization, digitization, individualization and the aging of the populations are the big challenges for the welfare states in Western societies. They contradict fundamentally the preconditions and foundations of the social security systems established in the past. The current welfare states are organized by nation states with growing populations, people living in stable family relationships and “work” as the main source of current income. In the future, however, robots instead of men, artificial intelligence instead of human brains and people from abroad will do a lot of work. How does this affect the fundaments of the welfare states, the distribution of income and wealth and how might people react to all these challenges?
In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will analyze the foundations of the welfare state in the 21st century from different perspectives (i.e. philosophy, economics and politics). We will search for new (scientific) approaches and methods to find wise answers to the different challenges. In each session the focus will lay on specific issues and the students are invited to contribute with their knowledge and background to the discussion.
Learning objectives:
This is a research seminar. The goal is to motivate and train students in research. Students are expected to hone and improve their analytical as well as their writing skills. You will be expected to independently write a scientific paper. Furthermore, students will be expected to present their paper to the group, thus receiving invaluable feedback while also being prompted to respond to critiques and address suggestions from the group. Research papers are due at the end of the seminar, after presentation and revision. The paper will be graded (i.e. the final mark is the grade of the paper).
Didactic concept:
Students are supposed to propose a topic of their own choice that fits into one of the following domains.
• The Foundations of the Welfare State in Times of New Work
• The Welfare State in Times of Mass Migration
• Risk and Insurance in Times of Digitization
• Inequality in Times of Globalization and Digitization
Students have to present their research question and a very short outline of their research agenda (including the three most relevant scientific sources (books & papers, data) at the first meeting after the kick-off meeting (i.e. Friday, November 18, 2022).
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